Goodbye My Lover
by allconsuminglove
Summary: future fic, oneshot (ignoring the events of 3/22): Damon and Human!Elena say a final goodbye - "Staring down at her love – her soul mate – she smiles before her eyes flutter closed and she falls into an eternal slumber"


**First attempt at writing fanfiction! So please be nice! **

**Pairing - Damon and Elena**

**Oneshot - Future fic: human elena and vampire damon say their last goodbyes**

**Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters or The Vampire Diaries (sadly)**

Stefan crouched on a roof across from their window. He could see their bedroom, its design quite simple really – a king-size bed, wardrobe (no doubt still filled  
with those damn john varvatos t-shirts and the multiple pairs of women's jeans which she had repeatedly claimed that you "could never have enough of!") and  
a vanity mirror. The only aspect of the room that made it somewhat personal were the various photo frames spread across every surface, detailing a life of  
happiness and love. Stefan scanned them in, taking in the most significant ones. A stunning shot of Elena sat in a canoeing boat, smiling that angelic, radiant  
smile that could light up anyone's day, with Damon across from her, staring. Oblivious to the camera, he was just looking at her; the look of love in his piercingly  
blue eyes was obvious to see. Another was the image of a twirling couple. Elena was sheathed in a rich cream gown and her olive skin glowed with sheer  
elation. The two gold rings visible on their entwined hands glinted at the edge of the image. Ignoring the stab of pain that shot through his heart like a bullet,  
Stefan fixated his gaze on the two figures on the bed, knowing that all those years ago, there was never really any choice for her to make.

With an achingly beautiful face frozen in time, Damon looked the same as he had done seventy years ago. However, unlike the last time they had seen each  
other, a layer of grief could be seen under his cerulean-blue pupils. He lay next to a woman – if Stefan had to guess, he would put her age at around 76 – with  
his arm wrapped around her still tiny frame delicately, as if he was afraid he would break her. Her hair was fanned out across the pillow, still beautifully long and  
thick but no longer the lovely shade of mahogany it once was. Her eyes – Stefan was glad to see that the chocolate pools filled with emotion and beauty had  
not changed – were open and a fragile smile played at the edges of her mouth, which was surrounded by lines not just of old age but of laughter. She was  
happy, even in these moments. A lone tear travelled down Stefan's cheek as he listened to them whisper softly to each other. They did not speak in a foreign  
language, yet Stefan felt that he would never fully understand the meaning of their words of love.

"You'll be fine . . . you lived a hundred years before me and you'll live at least double that once I'm gone. As long as you stop picking fights with vampires thirty  
times your age", she spoke slowly, as if even the effort of speaking was almost too much to bear.

"At least I can go back to picking up blondes in bars again, without the old ball and chain bringing me down". Damon added a carefree laugh at the end but it  
caught in his throat at the last moment. What was the point - Elena would always see through his facade.

She chuckled softly, "I'm sorry that I wasted so much of your time when you could have been out having fun then."

"Eh. We had some good moments. You're not the worst company in the world, you know Elena". She caught his eye and gave him a watery smile.

Shuffling to face him, Elena sighed: "I want you to find someone though. Maybe not for a few decades...but find someone that you can show your heart to; and once they see it, they'll have no choice but to love you back and who will love you as much as I did - as I do - if that is possible. But, Damon, when you find that woman...will you tell her something for me?"

Damon was caught up in his own thoughts about how delusional his girl was. She couldn't even blame it on the old age, as it was one of the traits he had always loved her for. Damon did not understand how she could ever believe that he could love another. Elena had reeled in his dark side, slowly bought back his humanity and taught him that he was capable of overwhelming, passionate, consuming love. He had not truly _lived _until she had come into his life and introduced herself as someone worth suffering all emotions for. Flipping the switch on his humanity, he had felt unbearable sadness and unimaginable grief but he had also experienced pure and simple love. He could not help but feel ashamed of how foolish he must have been to believe that what he had with Katherine was love. Elena, with her fiery spirit and pure heart had been his saviour in a storm. She had matched his every sarcastic retort, ignored his every claim that he was a monster and saved him. In every essence of the word.

When he heard Elena call him again, he murmured: "what do you want me to do, my love?"

Ensuring that she had his every attention, she sighed. "When you find someone, tell her to look after you. To look after your heart. Tell her that a woman gave you hers and you're holding it with you because she could not imagine it any other way. So tell her, that she better not break your heart, because breaking your heart will break mine as well."

Damon desperately wanted to scoff and spout a sarcastic comment about her stealing that line from one of her published and popular novels but he couldn't, not through the tears that streamed down his face. He wanted to tell her that she was a once in a lifetime...scratch that...once in an eternity match for him and that he would never find anyone who could see him as she had – who could understand him as she had.

But knowing that she would never be at peace if he did so, he just nodded.

Then, he pressed a soft kiss to her cheek before whispering a declaration of his eternal love and looking into her eyes. Memories swirled in his brain, a fusion of colours as he stared into the dark eyes.

He remembered meeting her for the first time on Wickery Bridge, seeing a fiery light burn in her eyes as she listened to him declare that he knew what she wanted in life.  
A couple of months later, he kissed her hand in a gentlemanly fashion when meeting her officially for the first time and wondered why that fire in her eyes seemed to have been extinguished and a chocolate brown sadness had replaced it.

Flashes of gazing up at her in that gorgeous velvet blue gown as she descended down those stairs, about to dance with him and discover the burning passion between them played in his mind.

His first declaration of love before he compelled her to forget (a memory which he later returned to her and had to endure endless rounds of beatings and slammed doors before she forgave him); their first official kiss, whilst he was almost delirious after that werewolf bite, but the sweet memory was vivid in his mind; his promise not to leave her again (which he had stuck to, to this day); the best day of his life, his wedding day and so many more. They had had it all. A lifetimes worth of tears, laughter, happiness and love. Yet he felt like he was being robbed.

The concept of her turning had been discussed many times and whilst the thought of killing her (if only temporarily) killed him, the idea of eternity with his soulmate always seemed like a dream. And despite her love for him being so strong, Elena had deserved to grow up, they had fought so many enemies for her humanity and Damon could not take it away from her, knowing the agonising pain of not being human.

They curled up closer together in silence for a few minutes. Damon had closed his eyes, trying to escape the pain. However, Elena had hers wide open. Staring down at her love – her soul mate – she smiled before her eyes fluttered closed and she fell into an eternal slumber.

The heartbeat which had comforted Damon thousands of times – whilst he had lay in bed with her every night and whenever he felt not in control – had fallen silent. Clutching onto her lifeless hand desperately, he felt panic. Now would be the time to turn off his emotions. But looking up at her peaceful face, beautiful even in death, Damon could not bring himself to. He knew that nothing would help. She was under his skin, etched in his every thought and he could not shake her, emotions or not.

Stefan still sat outside the window, watching his brother, the only family he had left. He had seen his brother at his lowest times. Damon had known pain in his life – God knows, they all had. He had witnessed an eight-year old Damon clutching onto his dead mother's hand screaming with confusion and pain as she was pulled away from him and all he had been left with was her gold wedding ring with an indigo stone. Stefan had seen his brother try to hide his tears when Katherine was "stolen" away from them. He had seen the underlying pain in Damon's eyes all of whilst Stefan and Elena were together. But that was nothing compared to this. Physically, he was not screaming or even sobbing. But, Stefan – as his brother and as someone that knew Damon to his very core – could recognise a broken man. He ached to reach out and comfort his brother but he knew that nothing could be done.

Cautiously, Damon slipped his daylight ring off his finger and placed it on Elena's finger, next to her gold wedding ring with an indigo stone.

Damon settled back next to his love in bed. Glancing up out of the window, he looked right into Stefan's eyes and mouthed the words "thank you brother". Stefan was unsure what he was thankful for.  
For realising that he could not stand in the way of true love all those years ago?  
For being here today? For being a brother?  
For letting Elena and Damon live out the life that they had deserved?  
It could have been any or all of these, but somehow Stefan knew that Damon was truly thankful for him understanding. For him not trying to stop this and for understanding that without Elena, there was no life for Damon. He loved rarely but completely and not even death could overcome their bond.

Giving a last small smile to his brother, Damon returned his gaze to the woman next to him. Excitement brimmed in his eyes as he could not wait to be returned to her again. Slowly turning to dust, Damon waited to be reunited with his love and the undead heart that she had taken with her. . .

**Review, if only to tell me how horribly cheesy that was?**


End file.
